Tiller-hope protector



UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

JNO. SAMPLE, OF MEADVILLE, MISSISSIPPI.

TILIiER-ROPE PROTECTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 21,906, dated October 26, 1858.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, JOI-IN SAMPLE, of Meadville, in the county of Franklin and State of Mississippi, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manner of Protecting Tiller-Ropes from the Accidents of Fire on Board of Steamboats; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description vof the construction and operation of the same, ref- Y erence being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l, represents in perspective so much of the hurricane deck of a western river steamboat as will illustrate my invention, and Figs. 2 and 3 represent sections through a portion of the contrivance.

Similar letters of reference where they occur in the separate figures, denote like parts in all of them.

On the western river steamboats, the wheel is placed on the forward part of the hurricane deck or roof, and the tiller ropes pass from said wheel down underneath the saloon, and thence back to the rudder at the stern of the boat, in which position it is most exposed to the accidents of lire; and when burned off which invariably happens, all control of the boat is lost.

My invention consists in the application of a protector to these tiller ropes, which will shield them for a long time from the action of the lire, and until the boat can be run to the shore.

. To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe, the same with reference to the drawings.

A, represents the forward portion of the hurricane deck of a steamboat, and B, the steering wheel and windlass located thereon.

a-a, are the tiller ropes which pass from the wheel B, to the tiller or rudder post. It is well known that, one of the two tiller ropes, is always slack, and to hold them up,

as well as to cause them to move freely, they are supported on pulleys or rollers. Now a single shield interposed between the tiller ropes, and the fire, would not serve the purpose because the rope must at times rest upon it, and when it becomes heated would burn off the rope. To avoid this contingency, I arrange double tubes, troughs, or shields b, b, one within the other, and leave an air space c between them-so that the tiller rope shall rest when slack, -on the inner shield, and when the outer one becomes heated, it will rarefy the air between the shields, and cause it to rise or pass out, and a current of fresh cool air to take its place, which in turn is rarelied and passes out, giving way to a current or in-rushing cooler air, and thus a circulation of air between the shields is kept up, which protects the tiller rope in the interior case, for a considerable period, long enough at least to run the boat to the shore. These shields or protectors, are so put up as to be readily removed for repairing the tiller rope or t-he pulleys over which they pass. And they may extend throughout the length of the boat, or only through that part of it most exposed to the dangers of fire.

lVhen it is remembered that, some of the most frightful accidents have happened by the immediate burning off of the tiller ropes in case of fire, the importance of this remedy will be seen.

Having thus fully described the nature and object of my invention what I claim therein as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- J Placing a double casing of metal with air space between them, around, over, or under the tiller ropes of vessels, to protect them from the accidents of fire, substantially as described. A

JNO. SAMPLE. lVitnesses:

A. B. SToUGHToN, E. COHEN. 

